There are exactly 482 sanctuary cities and towns in California and 58 sanctuary counties. That is because California is a sanctuary state. The state passed a law that mandates a minimum sanctuary status for all law enforcement in the state. All municipalities and counties in California are therefore acting sanctuaries for illegal aliens. It is not necessary for cities to declare themselves sanctuaries any longer. If they do, it is just because they want to do it to be “in your face.” California is in a state of insurrection against federal immigration law.

The Trust Act is, summarized below, is a sanctuary law for the entire state of California. It applies to counties and local cities as you can read in the actual text of the law (attached) in paragraph 7282(d). Therefore, there is no need for California city councils or counties to declare themselves sanctuary cities any longer. They are already (informal) sanctuaries by state law. Cooperation with ICE is only allowed under certain conditions. That is, the inmate has been convicted of one of a list if serious crimes that the law spells out. If you live in California, you are already living in a sanctuary for illegal aliens.

The TRUST Act (AB 4 – Ammiano) became law on January 1st, 2014 and limits local jails from holding people for extra time just so they can be deported. County jails can no longer respond to requests to hold individuals solely based on their immigration status, unless certain conditions are met. Even then, local law enforcement always has the discretion not to use local resources to detain immigrants for extra time. The TRUST Act ensures that, as of January 1st, people with most low-level, non-violent offenses (misdemeanors) are not wastefully held for deportation purposes. At the same time, the law allows detention of people with felony convictions and of those charged with felonies under certain circumstances. It also allows detention for people with a number of higher level misdemeanor (or “wobbler”) convictions within the past 5 years, and for certain federal criminal offenses.

The TRUST Act addresses the harmful impact of California’s participation in the federal government’s controversial “Secure Communities” (S-Comm) deportation program, which has led to the deportation of over 90,000 individuals in California. The law will begin to repair relationships between the immigrant community and local law enforcement and limit the use of local resources to detain immigrants. It provides essential safeguards for public safety, community policing and civil liberties. The TRUST Act is a statewide minimum standard, and local jurisdictions can and should go farther to limit to harmful impact of S-Comm and detention of immigrants in local jails.

The ACLU of California was a sponsor of AB 4, along with four other organizations, and is now working on implementation of the new law.

The Center for Immigration Studies list several others as sanctuary states, such as Oregon, New Mexico, North Dakota, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Your state may have a similar law or be planning one.

Obama has only been deporting serious criminals when they are arrested. As long as he was in office and his policies still in place we were, in effect, a sanctuary nation.